German Of The Day: Sozial

April 24, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Bodyguards, German, Germans, Germany, Government Waste, Language, Osama bin Laden, Sama A., Terror, Terrorists, Welfare, Welfare State Leave a comment

That means caring. You know, like the German state? It is caring and social (“social” here, of course, just being a different word for “free of charge”).

And it turns out that one of Osama bin Laden’s bodyguards, Tunesian Salafi Sami A. (he lost the other letters of his last name in a tragic car crash or something, I guess) has been receiving over 1,100 euros a month from the social German state since 2008 to chill around the house somewhere in the Ruhr Valley and do nothing except watch his beard grow. Or maybe reminisce now and then about the good old days with the Big O. himself. And the Germans do this even though the Tunisians would like to have a word with Sami A. Germany won’t extradite him, however, being sozial and all and fearing that Tunisia might subject him to “inhuman” or “demeaning” treatment. You know, like not getting him a flat-screen TV or a sufficiently fast WiFi connection for his cell?

You laugh but just think about it. How would Germany look returning the bodyguard of a mass murderer to a country like that?

Die deutsche Justiz geht davon aus, dass A. “mit beachtlicher Wahrscheinlichkeit Folter, unmenschliche oder erniedrigende Behandlung drohen.”

That Was Close

April 23, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Hard Facts, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Azerbaijan, Bribery, Bribes, Brussels, Corrupt Politicians, Corruption, EU, European Council, Politicians, Whistleblowers, Whistleblowing 1 Comment

Just in time, people. Brussels has just proudly and loudly announced that it plans to encourage and better protect whistleblowers in order to help them “bring light to scandals that would otherwise remain in the dark.” You know, like the Facebook thing, the Panama Papers, scandals like that. Or maybe like this one right down here?

“Experts Strongly Suspect Corruption in the European Council.” Several members of the European Council are suspected of having taken bribes from Azerbaijan in exchange for political support.

Perfect. They really think these things through, don’t they? So now it’s time to step up to the plate and start shedding some light on this for us, European Council whistleblowers. But don’t worry. Brussels will protect you. Oh, I forgot. You are Brussels. Why, see? Then there’s even less for you to worry about.

“Es sollte keine Strafe dafür geben, das Richtige zu tun.”

Perfect For The Job

April 22, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Andrea Nahles, Coalition Government, Elections, German, Germans, Germany, Political Parties, SPD, Workers 1 Comment

As head of a “worker’s” party like Germany’s SPD, I mean: Somebody who has never worked a day in her life.

Folks like that know best how to distribute/redistribute other people’s money. I guess this election means that the SPD commrades want to stretch out their party’s long and excruciating terminal illness for as long as they possibly can. Good choice, workers. She is clearly the best man for the job.

Andrea Nahles has become the first woman to lead Germany’s Social Democrats — though by a disappointing margin of votes…

After garnering a meager 66.35 percent of delegate support at a special conference in the western German city of Wiesbaden on Sunday, Andrea Nahles takes over a Social Democratic Party (SPD) in an unprecedented crisis.

Scarcely a year ago, SPD delegates had unanimously elected Martin Schulz, the longtime president of the European Parliament, as party leader and chancellor candidate. The result was a historic national electoral debacle against Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU), leaving the SPD deeply divided over policy and personnel.

After initial refusals, party leaders decided to extend the grand coalition with Merkel’s CDU and Bavaria’s Christian Social Union, which allies with the chancellor’s conservatives. Nahles’ job is to remake and re-energize the SPD while ensuring that its cabinet ministers can do their jobs with minimum of interference by fellow Social Democrats.

“Solidarity is one of the main things missing in this globalized, neoliberal turbocharged world.”

Disproportionate Reporting Of Crimes Committed By Migrants In Germany?

April 18, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Asylum Seekers, Crime, German, Germans, Germany, Journalism, Media, Migrants, Refugees, Reporting, State TV 1 Comment

I suppose that’s true, but not in the way you would think.

There are “disproportionate,” near daily state TV and news reports that point their fingers at migrant perpetrators – by going out of their way not to point their fingers at migrant perpatrators. It’s an embarassingly simple code that everybody here was able to crack in no time.

By reporting, for instance, that “a man stabbed his daughter at a local shopping center” and refusing to give any names or indicating directly that the man was a German, everyone knows who this guy is, his background.

So, yes. Disproportionate it is. The number of crimes committed by migrants reported in the news, I mean. But you can see by the way these crimes are reported that the media is not making them up (for once?). They’re just covering them up.

The somewhat dubious concept of lawless areas in Germany has been promoted in no small part by disproportionate reporting of crimes committed by migrants and foreigners in popular media, particularly outlets like Bild.

PS: The first article I read made no indication as to who the perpetrator was. A later one did indicate – at the very bottom of the article – that father and daughter were Turkish citizens.

In A Word: Yes

April 17, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Heconomy, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Dependency, EU, Gas, Gazprom, Germany, Lobbies, Nord Stream 2, Russia 1 Comment

Is Germany Protecting Russia’s Gazprom From Latest Anti-Trust Discovery?

German companies like BASF and Wintershall may be successful at lobbying their government to keep the new Russian pipeline going, despite opposition from Washington. Such are the worries being made behind closed doors within the state owned Central and East European (CEE) gas companies that are no fans of Russia’s Gazprom.

On April 10, someone leaked the Statement of Objections against Gazprom from the European Union’s competition authority known as the Directorate-General for Competition (DG Comp). The leaked document was a 270-page report of abuse cases filed by nearly every Gazprom partner in eastern Europe, including Poland where the news first broke last week…

As Gazprom is responsible for nearly a third of all of Germany’s foreign gas supply, and because Germany has two big companies with money on the line with Gazprom projects, some believe Brussels is ready to let Gazprom off the hook from disputes with at least five countries.

“DG Comp is said to be pressured by some high-ranking German officials to make a soft deal with Gazprom so they can start building the new Nord Stream 2 pipeline.”

Save Chico!

April 11, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Attack Dogs, Dog Attacks, Dogs, German, Germans, Germany 1 Comment

But always keep him fed really, really well, OK?

It’s German oddity time again. They may not care much for humans but when it comes to dogs they’re, well, nuts. More like wacko, really. Bonkers, if you get my drift. And that dogs are welcome in restaurants here is the least of it. Chico up there, for instance, gets to eat anything he wants anywhere he wants anytime he wants – his owners included.

Members of the public in Germany have launched an online petition to stop Chico the dog from being put down after he mauled his disabled owner and her son to death last week.

The owners, named by authorities as Lezime K, 52, and her son Liridon, 27, were found dead on the floor of their Hanover home after Chico attacked them last Tuesday.

But authorities have been forced to reconsider whether to put the dog down after more than 250,000 signed a petition to let him live (they think the city should have known that the dog was dangerous – your own stupid decisions are always somebody else’s fault over here).

Warum tun diese Hunde das?

But Nobody Said We Couldn’t Do It Until Now

April 6, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: China, Exports, Germany, Imports, Merkel, Surplus, Trade, Trade Surplus, Trump, USA Leave a comment

Trump is right about trade and Merkel needs to do something about it, former German state secretary says.

In early March, Trump started by implementing tariffs on aluminum and steel imports — measures that did not represent a big impact for China, but did for countries like Japan and potentially Europe too.

Germany has also faced international criticism for its trade surplus, which means its exports outweigh its imports, as some see it as unfair, imbalanced and a cause for protectionism elsewhere.

“Germany is really out there as the main culprit, so to say, because Germany has the highest surplus, much higher than China in terms of GDP… Germany has to do something against it, that’s absolutely clear,”

German Of The Day: Wer A Sagt, Muss Auch B Sagen

April 5, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Garbage, Garbage Separation, German, Germans, Germany, Language, Waste 2 Comments

“Whoever says A must also say B” means if you dish it out, you have to be able to take it.

And that’s what this pukey little twelve-year-old environmental polluter had to learn, the hard way. Kids these days. He, of all people, should know that Germans take their garbage separation very seriously. But this little punk had the audacity to toss his empty pizza carton into a public garbage can! Hello? Everybody over here knows that you are not allowed to put your own private Hausmüll (domestic refuse) into a public garbage can! Oh, you didn’t know that, either? It was news to me, too. But still.

Anyways, the nasty little delinquent got charged ten euros on the spot and had to shell it out pronto-like or else. Serves him right. I think. It has to do with zero tolerance or something.

Ein Außendienstmitarbeiter des Ordnungsamts beobachtete ihn, stellte einen Strafzettel aus und kassierte die zehn Euro Ordnungsgeld. Zusätzlich soll der Stadtwächter der Mutter gedroht haben, sie für das Parken auf der Bushaltestelle zu verwarnen, wenn die zehn Euro nicht bezahlt werden.

What, Me Worry?

April 4, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Hate, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: German, Germans, Germany, Islam, Islamic Law, Muslim, Religion, Salafism, Salafists, Sharia, Terrorism 1 Comment

About the number of Salafi/Salafist movement followers doubling in Germany in just five years?

It’s not like they’re terrorists or anything, right? Right? I can’t hear you. But they are for the introduction of the sharia and against democracy and thus against the rule of law (our law). So what’s not to like about these guys?

And they are really snappy dressers, too, by the way. If you’re into that Middle Ages oriental flying carpet kind of thing.

The Salafi movement or Salafist movement or Salafism is an ultra-conservative reform branch or movement within Sunni Islam that developed in Arabia in the first half of the 18th century. It advocated a return to the traditions of the salaf, who are the first three generations of scholars after the Prophet Muhammad.

The Salafist doctrine is centered around the concept of looking back to a prior historical period in an effort to understand how the contemporary world should be ordered. They reject religious innovation or bid’ah, and support the implementation of sharia (Islamic law).”

Für die Scharia, gegen die Demokratie: Die deutsche Salafisten-Szene mit ihrer steinzeitlichen Auslegung des Islam wächst rasant. Doch sind alle Salafisten auch Terror-Verdächtige?

If The Deutsche Post Does It It’s Different

April 2, 2018 By Hermann Observer in Hard Facts, Helections, Hi-tech, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Cambridge Analytica, Data, Data Mining, Data Privacy, Data Security, Deutsche Post, Elections, Facebook, German, Germans, Germany, Political Parties 3 Comments

As usual, German Scheiße doesn’t stink.

When it comes to data mining = Cambridge Analytica = Facebook = US-Amerika, we’re talking pure evil. The Deutsche Post, on the other hand, is the Deutsche Post so it ain’t no big deal – when they do the same thing. The outrage hält sich in Grenzen (is kept within limits).

Deutsche Post sold client microtargeting data to the Christian Democrats and Free Democrats before the 2017 elections. Is this a scandal along the lines of Cambridge Analytica in the US? That depends on whom you ask.

“German ‘data-driven’ canvassing cannot be compared with the highly sophisticated US campaigns, which use reliable data, experimental findings and data modeling to identify individual voter targets.”

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Category Archives: Hurt Feelings